And because most laws are not prescient, this device was not anticipated and thus not banned by most state laws. Hey, I'm not texting, it's hands free, what's the problem, officer?

Banning new technologies isn't an answer. If folks are going to make their cars into offices and living rooms, there's all likelihood, that this is actually safer than the alternatives.

The issue is to get drivers to shift the balance back to attentive driving, and adjust what they do to conditions.

05-08-13, 04:48 PM

I-Like-To-Bike

Quote:

Originally Posted by FBinNY

The issue is to get drivers to shift the balance back to attentive driving, and adjust what they do to conditions.

Another possibilty is for the persistent worrywarts of A&S to stop (or at least get a handle on) their worrying about every dang "another thing" that shows up in the news, whether it be a survey, a bold prediction by some guy on the internet, a new shiny object, an astrology chart, or the phases of the moon.

05-08-13, 05:11 PM

kalliergo

Quote:

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

Another possibilty is for the persistent worrywarts of A&S to stop (or at least get a handle on) their worrying about every dang "another thing" that shows up in the news, whether it be a survey, a bold prediction by some guy on the internet, a new shiny object, an astrology chart, or the phases of the moon.

I'm not worried about those who text while driving/walking along railroad tracks. Do you?

Nor do I believe that everything that is a possible or conceivable risk, no matter how slight, necessitates the hysterical sky is falling attitude from the A&S Henny Pennys as demonstrated on this thread.

OMG! A new gizmo is mentioned in the news which isn't even available; let all us fearful cyclists cry and moan Woe is Us! Just wait until Apple announces anything new. The howling from the Henny Pennys should reach a record level on A&S.

05-08-13, 10:39 PM

FBinNY

Quote:

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

Another possibilty is for the persistent worrywarts of A&S to stop (or at least get a handle on) their worrying about every dang "another thing" that shows up in the news, whether it be a survey, a bold prediction by some guy on the internet, a new shiny object, an astrology chart, or the phases of the moon.

Yes, the A&S forum seems to follow the news media in blowing everything up to disaster proportions. And we're blessed with politicians who feel they must address every short lived crisis with some kind of a ban or regulation.

05-08-13, 10:40 PM

kalliergo

Quote:

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

I'm not worried about those who text while driving/walking along railroad tracks. Do you?

Cute. Actually, I do worry about those folks, but I doubt we'll be able to pass laws that help them.

Google Glass is an almost perfect example of a gadget that ought to scare the hell out of everyone who uses the public ways. If you think that's silly, it can only be because you don't understand how distractions caused by similar, but less-intrusive, gadgets have increased risk for everyone.

As for the new gizmo not being available, don't get too comfy. Google doesn't spend this kind of money and promote this level of hype on products that they kill. They'll be everywhere before you know it.

As for the likelihood that the sky is falling, you might want to check with some folks at Oxford before you dismiss the possibility. ;)

The group has a forthcoming paper entitled “Existential Risk Prevention as Global Priority,” arguing that we face a real risk to our own existence. And not a slow demise in some distant, theoretical future. The end could come as soon as the next century.

Let's see, HUDs in jets and cars display information about the condition of the jet or car... slightly distracting, but probably no more so than gazing at the dashboard gauges.

I drove a friend's car with a pretty complete HUD, and the nicest thing I found about it was having the speed and time right there on the windshield instead of having to look down at the tiny clock on the radio when approaching a school zone with only posted times instead of flashing lights. OTOH, it didn't seem nearly as handy until I got back in my own car and didn't have that stuff.

I'm not sure if Henny Penny is wrong, but Henny Penny is certainly completely incoherent.

05-09-13, 08:47 AM

I-Like-To-Bike

Quote:

Originally Posted by corvuscorvax

I'm not sure if Henny Penny is wrong, but Henny Penny is certainly completely incoherent.

Henny Penny-like incoherence and/or hysteria is the name of the game for some so-called bicycling safety advocates/worrywarts on this list.

05-09-13, 08:54 AM

I-Like-To-Bike

Quote:

Originally Posted by KD5NRH

I drove a friend's car with a pretty complete HUD, and the nicest thing I found about it was having the speed and time right there on the windshield instead of having to look down at the tiny clock on the radio when approaching a school zone with only posted times instead of flashing lights. OTOH, it didn't seem nearly as handy until I got back in my own car and didn't have that stuff.

Good point. That speedometer is so dang distracting, especially for drivers obsessed with never exceeding the posted limit, no matter what the prevailing traffic. Ban those distracting speedometers. Save our Henny Pennys.

Better yet, ban those distracting posted speed limit signs and all the distracting trouble they cause for drivers who must devote 100% of every neuron, 100% of the time to the road ahead and can't spare the loss of attention to look at those distracting signs.

05-09-13, 10:19 AM

Matariki

Quote:

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

I'm not worried about those who text while driving/walking along railroad tracks. Do you?

Nor do I believe that everything that is a possible or conceivable risk, no matter how slight, necessitates the hysterical sky is falling attitude from the A&S Henny Pennys as demonstrated on this thread.

OMG! A new gizmo is mentioned in the news which isn't even available; let all us fearful cyclists cry and moan Woe is Us! Just wait until Apple announces anything new. The howling from the Henny Pennys should reach a record level on A&S.

Being concerned about potential negative impact of something is not hysteria, but overly-stated under-concerns may be.

Getting directions. I thought turn-by-turn navigation would be more dangerous with Glass since I'd be driving with something in my field of vision. In practice, I took my eyes off the road much less than if I were using an external GPS or smartphone.

05-09-13, 06:03 PM

alhedges

I actually thought that this thread was going to be about bikers using Google Glasses to record bad motorists.

05-09-13, 08:20 PM

kalliergo

Quote:

Originally Posted by corvuscorvax

I'm not sure if Henny Penny is wrong, but Henny Penny is certainly completely incoherent.

Nah. It's just academic-speak. It actually makes sense once you've penetrated the jargon. If the jargon were too easy, riff-raff might get Oxbridge jobs. ;)

from the article:Getting directions. I thought turn-by-turn navigation would be more dangerous with Glass since I'd be driving with something in my field of vision. In practice, I took my eyes off the road much less than if I were using an external GPS or smartphone.

Immaterial to the Henny Pennys. It is something new and they don't understand and/or don't use, therefore it is baaaadd for cyclists.

05-10-13, 04:01 AM

Myosmith

While I see potential problems with this new technology, what about it's benefits for cyclists. Instead of having to wear a constantly running camera on your helmet to hopefully capture assaults, harrassment, or the details of a collision, something like this could be built into your sunglasses so all you have to do is give a voice command or wink to photograph or record the incident. No more need for a big Garmin or smart phone clamped to your handlebars to track your route and riding data. How about a voice command to dial 911 and send your GPS location if you are injured or in danger?

The current version looks a little clunky (but no worse than a GoPro stuck to the top of your helmet) but I'm sure in time the computer will be smaller and less conspicuous with an on-the-lense visual display.

Sure there are going to be problems and some people will misuse the device, but people driving/riding with their head up their . . . is nothing new, long before texting, cell phones, etc. I saw drivers eating, putting on makeup (remember driver's side vanity mirrors?), reading paper maps or newspapers, trying to rewind messed up cassettes (you youngun's ask your folks), and whatever else they could think of. When the Walkman came out in the 1980s it was going to be the death of us all as skateboarders became the bane of humanity and roadway safety. As usual it isn't the technology that is the problem, it's the wetware running it.

People only write "deliberately dense" prose when they don't want people to actually understand what they're saying:

Quote:

A black hole, or a jar of sterile pebbles, is neither a democracy nor an efficient labor market, and we can see that this is so without having to make any normative judgment; yet there may be other objects that cannot be classified as instances or non-instances of these concepts without taking a stand (at least implicitly) on some normative issue.

400 bucks? Wonder if it will include street view Doppler radar - that would be great.

05-10-13, 06:30 PM

kalliergo

Quote:

Originally Posted by corvuscorvax

Quote:

A black hole, or a jar of sterile pebbles, is neither a democracy nor an efficient labor market, and we can see that this is so without having to make any normative judgment; yet there may be other objects that cannot be classified as instances or non-instances of these concepts without taking a stand (at least implicitly) on some normative issue.

I mean, really. What the hell does this mean?

Well, the core discipline of the work is philosophy. In that branch of academia, "normative" typically refers to value judgments or judgments about the way a thing or situation "should" be.

So, building on that understanding, we can parse the quote and determine that it means no value judgment is required to determine that, e.g., a box of rocks, isn't a labor market (it self-evidently is not), but that such judgment might be required to determine whether or not (again, e.g.) prison chain gangs are elements of such a market.

What we need to worry about is that humans aren't smart enough to stop themselves from building and using any technology they can contrive, regardless of the cost and consequences, and regardless of the benefits or lack thereof.

If it controls navigation, phone, radio/stereo and all the other crap that people currently look away from the road to do via HUD and voice commands, I don't see the problem.

Military jets and some cars already use heads-up displays precisely because they allow you to see data without taking your eyes off the road/sky.

People already screw with stuff while riding, and it kills a lot of people - mainly when they take their eyes off the road.

This is actually an interesting point of view I hadn't considered.

People are already doing everything from eating, to shaving, to checking GPS and radio, to surfing their laptops (saw that one last week). Getting more of that in front of them and controlled by things like voice commands might help. Obviously it isn't optimal, and we'd love to just have everyone sit and pay attention in silence while they drive, but I'd also like a million dollars. Working on the premise I'll get a million dollars isn't productive.

Can't say for sure, but who knows? Someone needs to do a study now comparing Google Glass users with cellphone users with non-users. It wouldn't floor me if Google Glass users beat out smart phone users.

05-11-13, 11:54 AM

DX-MAN

Quote:

Originally Posted by kalliergo

What we need to worry about is that humans aren't smart enough to stop themselves from building and using any technology they can contrive, regardless of the cost and consequences, and regardless of the benefits or lack thereof.